The Winter Party
by THA musIc GuY
Summary: Christmas parties have a way of effecting people. Naruto and Sakura are no exception. A winter-themed story. One-Shot. NaruSaku. [I'll probably submit this for the heaven and earth Winter contest]


"What?"

Sakura Haruno narrowed her eyes at the blonde girl in front of her.

Ino Yamanaka looked not the least bit miffed, and merely continued on what many would have deemed a suicidal mission.

"See, I'm not asking you to _do_ anything your_self, _you know. I'm merely egging you along!" She happily patted the right shoulder of the emerald-eyed woman, making the latter's annoyance with her ascend dramatically, "I'm pretty sure _tons _of Konoha's hotter section of males will kill to ask out," She sized her up another time, "The _hot new nurse._"

The Haruno waved her invitation aside, closing her eyes and shaking her head to lay emphasis, "I'm sorry, but I've no need to go to such a fété."

Saying so, she nodded irately at the blonde, and, glimpsing said girl's obvious motive, quickly waved and marched forward to avoid all further persuasive comments from the same.

Unfortunately, she didn't seem to have her usual 'average' stock of luck that day.

"Come o_n_, Forehead," said Ino, nearing her again, "Its not like the world's going to end if you go there! It'll be fun!"

Sakura glared at her, out of the corners of her eyes.

"_Fun_, you say?" she growled, "Watching you send armies of strangers to me? Please, I've got better ways of occupying myself!"

Ino gave out a nervous laugh, shaking her hands in front of herself, "I'm not going to do that this time! I promise! I was only saying that to mess with you! There'll be many girls there as well!"

Sakura raised her eyebrows.

"And that's going to stop you from acting like an idiot, _how _exactly?"

Ino visibly gulped.

"Er," Ino bit her lip, frantically searching for a way to rope her in, "Well..."

Suddenly her eyes widened.

"The Rokudaime himself will be there," the Yamanaka smirked at the sudden widening of her pink-haired friend's eyes, "And _I, _for one, don't think that he'll allow anyone to _lay_ one on his precious Sakura-chan."

Her grin widened at the glare her friend shot her.

"He doesn't harbor those feelings anymore, Ino," Sakura reprimanded, "He's nineteen, available, and in possession of quite a respectable social position," she frowned, "Besides, we respect the platonic boundary we share now. He's not one who's going to meddle in my _love_-life anymore, pig."

Ino laughed.

"Hilarious!" She managed, "'Platonic Boundary' my ass! You guys are practically _scourging _out ways in which each of you can see the things under the other's pants!"

The medic-nin glared at her again, "I don't know what sort of romantic fictions you dream up about us in your dreams, but you're mistaken. B_ig _time!"

The blonde merely shook her head, as if chiding her.

"Anyhow, on a more serious note," Ino placed a hand on her shoulder, making Sakura stop and turn towards her for real, still angry, "I really want you to be there, you know. Everybody will come, and it just wont be the same if you didn't come along, know what I mean?"

Sakura looked at her for a moment more, eyes searching for the undertone of mischief the blonde usually liberated while voicing one of her deviously evil schemes. However, this time she was unable to find one. Still in suspicions about the blonde's true agendas, the roseate knitted her eyebrows together, and searched her friend's face. Again, she was left with no yieldings.

She sighed.

"Okay, I'll come, damn you."

Ino squealed, jumping and clasping her palms together in the air.

"You're going to have a _delight_ful time!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes again.

"Uh huh. Anyway, I've got to go. Have to buy something to wear for this. Bye, pig."

Ino waited there, watching the back of her pink-haired friend move farther away, until she was well past the nearest down-hill slope on the road, and out of sight.

Then, she smirked.

"You're quite the devil, you know."

The blonde shrugged.

"What has to be done, has to be done. I thought you'd know that, Shikamaru," she said, turning to smile at a scowling jonin next to her. The latter looked at her out of the corners of his eyes, and let out a soft sigh.

"You sure this is gonna work, the party?"

Ino turned back towards the hill she'd been looking at. A wavering smile on her lips.

"Who knows, when its with _those_ two."

* * *

The Rokudaime scratched the back of his head.

It wasn't an unlikely sight to see the village's Hokage at the market, seeing how he preferred to take the job of shopping for his supplies upon his own shoulders. However, it wasn't the knack for this 'otherwise-mundane' affair, that brought Naruto Uzumaki to the Konohan Shops that day.

He had to get a proper suit.

He scowled. Shopping for clothes was not at all something he was particularly proficient at; rather, when he walked into the cloth shop, the world began to wait for the shock of its life until he came out.

After than, if everything proceeded as usual, everyone began to laugh at him, as he had an inexplicable knack of wearing his purchase outside, when he went clothes-shopping.

Anyhow, he needed to get the work done, and he didn't have much time. Thus, he set out into the market, returning each wish he received from the shop owners. It wasn't his diplomatic skills' acting up that made him do so though, it was the basic fact that he just happened to like the stall owners at the market; their cheerfulness being something he found intoxicating.

Tiredly stretching his arms, he raised his eyebrows, having spotted the suit-store.

Walking inside, he nodded at the man at the counter; who quickly lost his bearings and haphazardly muttered a word of greeting at the Hokage, clumsily ordering one of his helpers to attend on him. Said helper; a boy of about seventeen, probably earning some extra money, slipped on dry ground, looking at the customer.

Naruto flashed him a lopsided smile. In all his honesty, the six-months he'd spent holding the post of Hokage had led him into quite a few of such awkward encounters. Needless to say, he wasn't _totally _sure what entered the minds of the Konohans when they saw their Hokage.

_He_, for one, had always deemed himself an immaculate receiver of Kages.

The blonde shook his thoughts out of his head.

"H-Hokage-sama," the boy bowed, "It's an honor to have you here. How may I help you?"

Naruto chuckled.

"I need a suit," he meted out.

The boy blinked.

"Um, for what occasion?"

"For a p-"

"They roped you in as well, huh?"

The Rokudaime's ears perked at the voice. Forgetting all about his conversation with the attendant he'd been given, he turned his head around to find the speaker.

"Sakura-chan?"

The roseate grinned.

Naruto smiled back at her, "What are you doing here?"

She waved a hand in agitation.

"Pig pushed me into saying yes to her invitation to the Christmas party."

The blonde let out a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, she can be real press-y sometimes, huh?"

Sakura grinned. Then, noticing the wide-eyed boy next to Naruto, she remembered that the Rokudaime had come there to shop for the night's gala. She smiled as a sudden idea struck her.

"Do you have the afternoon free after this?"

"Er," Naruto blinked at her, "Well, yeah, I guess. Tsunade Baa-chan said that she'd take care of the work for the vacations, that she was getting too fat sitting home work-less or something."

Sakura's face brightened.

"So, want to shop together?"

_Stump_.

The blonde blinked dumbly at the roseate. Shopping. Together. Sakura-chan.

An almost invisible blush crept to his face.

"U-Uh, sure!" He said, trying his best to sound upbeat.

Thankfully though, Sakura seemed not to take notice. "Great! Let's get started then."

She motioned to the receptionist, who was quite baffled to have two such famed ninjas in his shop at the same time, and received a young girl to help her out with _her _shopping.

* * *

An hour later, Naruto and she were walking along the Konohan market, talking about the way in which they'd been spending their vacations till then. The Haruno found it quite endearing to have a conversation with someone who _actually _participated, while not making any allusions whatsoever, to _that _part of her life.

She was, however, quite miffed at how she'd blurted out the prospect of the two of them shopping together. It was unlike her to actually _voice_ that sort of thing; usually, she just went along with it when Naruto was there, seeing that in the end they ended up doing whatever they had planned together anyway.

She shook her head and sighed, Ino's words must've been playing with her mind.

"So," she heard the blonde say, "You remember the conference from last week?"

Her lips curved into a smirk.

"How can't I? I still have the occasional laugh at the impeccable manner in which Kiba acted gay to entertain the Tsuchikage."

Naruto laughed at that.

"Yeah, I guess _that _prank was a tad too harsh."

Sakura raised an eyebrow, "When aren't they?"

The Rokudaime resorted back to scratching his head.

About a week earlier, Kiba Inuzaka had left Akamaru's 'droppings' on Naruto's counter. Needless to say, the Blonde had had a terrible time disposing of it. Even more so, because the incident had involved two of them; him and Sasuke, seeing that they shared an apartment, and their butting heads in deciding the method they'd have to use in cleaning the mess up went on late into the night, making the excreta dry in its perch on the table.

After that they'd basically resorted to the traditional method of cleaning up dog-poop, that is, the method with the hands.

Sasuke'd let out a shrill shriek at the thought of losing his precious oak-wood table to something like dog-crapping, and Naruto'd called him a Teme, and kicked him into action. The Uchiha had then grabbed the nearest wad of paper, which so happened to be the only ramen-discount-coupon the duo had left at that time, and swiped the poop off his table; not noticing the aghast look on the blonde's face.

Naruto himself had not had a lot of time to ponder the fact that he'd lost his last Ichiraku-pass, and instead, had grabbed the table cleaner nearest him, after receiving an urging glare from Sasuke, and set himself to the task of wiping the table-surface clean.

After that, when the current Tsuchikage, who happened to be a proudly gay man had come to Konoha, Naruto had _personally _forced the Inuzaka into accepting the job of keeping him entertained.

Currently, the blonde shivered.

"Aftershocks?"

He grinned nervously.

"Hehe, y-yeah."

A couple of minutes later, Sakura suddenly looked at a store and quickly went in.

She heard the blonde call out to her. Turning she found him watching with a confused stare.

"What?" She asked, suddenly a tad self conscious.

Naruto let out a freaked-out chuckle.

"U-Uh," he blushed tomato red.

Sakura scowled, "Huh?"

He gulped. Talk about awkward.

"T-This is a lingerie store."

_Crap_.

* * *

Three nights later, on Christmas eve, Sakura found herself nearing the apartment the Rokudaime shared with her other former teammate. Her form was clad in green, skin-fitting clothes, that left her shoulders bare. She'd painstakingly built her hairdo, pinning all the smalls bits into place. Two silver moon-shaped earrings adorned her ears, putting up the underplayed shine that brightened her hair. Her lips, she'd glossed, albeit not to an out-worldly extent, so as to allow her eyes to come as the show-stopper, sealing the whole thing up.

She smiled. The Haruno was in no way someone who took pleasure in complimenting themselves; however, she _did _concede herself that little bit of pride that one had after looking into a mirror, and liking what they saw there.

Sometime later, she stepped into the hallway at the end of which was the apartment of two of the most powerful shinobis to have ever lived.

Nearing the door, she started to bring up a hand to grasp the doorknob, when suddenly...

"What the fuck, dude, that's my junk!"

"Crap, sorry Dobe, didn't see it!"

"Yeah right, you unseeingly grabbed my inner paradise? Give me a break."

"Inner Para- what the heck?"

"Pfft! Forget it."

"Uh-huh."

The sound of shuffling footsteps followed.

The roseate's face glowed like a bubble-gum colored lamp. What... was... _that_? They talked about _that _kind of thing when alone? She gulped. She'd heard Ino talk to her about boys, and the various _things _they did, however, she'd never looked into the life of two Bachelors sharing an apartment.

_That's not healthy_, she decided finally, shivering to the very tips of her toes.

Taking a deep breath, and remembering why she'd come there, she steeled herself up again, and reached for the door-knob... and stopped.

_What if they're roaming about in their underwear?_

She gulped.

Her hand shook.

_Click._

Her eyes widened, and she jumped back, as the door opened in front of her.

"How long do you plan on standing there?"

In front of her stood a fairly tall boy with pale skin, and an emo hairdo. He was wearing a black colored tuxedo, fitted irreproachably to his form. The black of his clothing made his serene and red eyes pop out, and complimented his skin tone. His built was lithe, and sharp, adding to the poignant charm that enveloped him.

"S-Sasuke! You scared me."

The boy sighed, and made the corners of his lips turn the slightest bits upward.

"He's in his room," he pointed sideways, "Go check him out."

With that, he left the door-frame, and moved back into the apartment, motioning at Sakura to come inside and vanishing from view.

For a second Sakura merely stood there contemplating what she was about to do. Then, shrugging, the roseate let out an inaudible sigh, and finally willed herself into the apartment.

She'd long since come to terms with the fact that Naruto and Sasuke liked to keep their living space as clear as they possibly could, however, she still found herself utterly refreshed when she entered the threshold. Very little, minute bits of furniture was arranged about the room. However, the two had still taken the time to actually decorate their mantelpiece. Their table was laden with fruits, and various other instruments like the watches of the two, their official papers, et cetera.

To her right side lay the room of the blonde, towards which she currently started to move. She like Naruto's room very much, even though she'd only been in there thrice. It had the perfect cheer-bringing feel in it, with frog posters, team seven photographs, and old pictures of Naruto, with Jiraya, Tsunade, and, as an infant, his parents.

Certainly amazing.

Reaching the room's door, Sakura knocked on it twice.

"Come in! I'm finished already, Dob- S-Sakura chan!"

_Oh my._

The roseate's eyes widened, and she stared at the sight she was offered.

The blonde was dressed in a dark blue suit, something that he'd chosen whilst being with her. However, until then, she hadn't really had the time to see it on _him_.

It was a dreadfully beautiful suit, its texture almost ethereal to her eyes, and clung to him perfectly. It graced his lean figure, and gently touched the ripped muscles that Sakura _knew _were present underneath. His eyes went exceptionally well with the suit, and were, not unusually, the things which made up for any imperfection that he might have possessed. His hair had been greased backwards, with just the right number of locks escaping, and falling over his face.

She found herself utterly awestruck.

Naruto coughed.

"Uh," she gazed on stupidly for a second, before finally remembering the reason why she'd come there that night, "W-Well, you ready to go?"

The blonde looked quite shaken himself.

"Er, yeah. Yeah, I am."

* * *

"Wow."

"Yeah."

The three of them stood at the entrance of the venue. From what they could see, the shinobi found the gala to already be a success in their heads. Hundreds of people milled about the the large place, talking, chatting, drinking, and doing whatnot. Light music blared off the speakers mounted on the walls. Confetti was splayed across the floor, making its white marbled surface look like a mosaic one.

At the center of the whole place was a made-up stage. A large circle, the surface of which shined with bright white light. A score of people were on it, slowly grooving to the music from the speakers.

Naruto smiled, "Wanna go inside?"

Sakura grinned at him, "Sure."

Sasuke let out a 'Hn'.

Going in, they were immediately surrounded by people from their village, jostling about with each other. Almost immediately after that, Sasuke said that he had to check on something, and took off, asking the two of them to go straight, where there was a drinks counter, so as to emancipate themselves of the burden of being squashed to death by the people there.

Naruto and Sakura obeyed, and shortly after, reached the counter.

"So," said the roseate, after a small break, "What do you think of this?"

Naruto smirked, "This place is absolutely gorgeous! Its amazing really, that Ino came up with this whole thing, ya know?"

An out of place frown marred Sakura's face.

"Yeah Ino's... , pretty amazing."

Naruto noticed this out of the corner of his eye, and quickly shook himself up. Uncomfortable; change the topic.

"So, how was your week?"

Sakura's frown slowly disappeared, replaced by a grin, "It was okay, however, pretty monotonous, you know. It won't be false to say that the morning we spent shopping was undoubtedly the brightest moment of my entire month till now."

A weird warmth enveloped Naruto's insides.

"Yeah?" He looked down at the roseate, only to find her staring back up at him.

She nodded, smiling.

"Yeah."

He stared at her eyes, they really did look beautiful that day.

"How may I help you guys?"

They turned around sharply, each cringing at the sudden intrusion.

To their surprise, they found Ino standing in front of them, wearing a bartender's uniform, complete with the bunny ears.

Sakura was the first to crack up.

"Pig! Hil_arious!_ _Ab_so_lu_tely hi_larious!_"

Naruto soon followed suit.

"Oh my gawd, Ino! You look so shweeet."

The blonde girl stuck her tongue out at the two of them.

"Idiots!"

The two of them laughingly coaxed the girl for a few minutes, after which, she finally got over her ire, and went back to her normal self.

"Merry Christmas, you guys."

* * *

An hour or so later, the two ninja were walking back from the party, seeing that the two of their residences lay on the same path.

"It was great, dattebayo!"

Sakura chuckled at the blonde's childish tone.

"It sure was incredible."

Naruto nodded cheerfully, images of the foods he'd eaten crossing his mind.

The roads were unsurprisingly quiet, most people being at their respective winter parties at that moment. A calm had settled over Konoha, sort of in comfort with the soft sound of music and cheer emanating from the various types of the aforementioned galas being held across Konoha. The street lamps had strings between them, laden with lights of various colors.

The Academy building floated in the distance, hosting the party for the older sections of Konoha's society, which included the masters of both Naruto and Sakura, and their numerous colleagues. The tall buildings which surrounded it glowed as well, adding to the already picturesque setting the formerly mentioned building created. The cloud cover that night wasn't especially heavy, making the stars much more clear, and in a particular sense, extolling the beauty of all the other celestial bodies.

Sakura sighed. It was _very _much something she liked.

The setting tampering with her brain, the roseate blurted a question out.

"Naruto, what do you look for in a girl?"

She didn't need to turn towards him to see that he was astonished at her sudden question.

"W-What, Sakura chan?"

She looked at him.

"What do you look for in a girl?"

He gulped. This was... _different._

"A-A girl?"

Feeling unusually daring, Sakura nodded, holding a poker face.

"Yeah."

The blonde bit his lip.

"W-well," he began, gulping again, "I guess... She should be strong, and kind."

Sakura nodded.

"She should, well, should be able to reprimand me if I were to suddenly go into something wrong."

Naruto saw her nod again. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that they were nearing their apartment building.

"She _probably _would punch me around a lot," he said, eyeing her pointedly, and noticing her smiling laughingly, "But I guess in the end, it will probably be for my good itself."

Sakura beamed.

Deciding to play a little, Naruto jokingly added the next bit of detail. "Perhaps I'll prefer it if she came from a nearby village."

He mockingly scratched his chin while saying this, looking up in the process.

"A nearby village?"

His eyes floated back to her, surprised at her shocked tone.

Seeing her suddenly ire-d face, he laughingly waved away his previous statement, even though he didn't have any particular idea about what Sakura was thinking of.

"But a homie is better!"

The roseate snickered.

"Anyhow, I'd like her to look good, but as long as she's fun to hang around, looks probably wont matter much."

Sakura threw him an impressed grin.

"Lastly, I want her to feel like I'd give the world up for her."

Out of the corner of his eyes, he saw Sakura's smile widen.

Feeling like the conversation was becoming exhilarating, the blonde posed the next question.

"What do _you _want in a boy?"

He saw Sakura laugh, "Me? Not much. Probably just two things."

Curious, his slowed his pace down, seeing that they were only a couple of feet away from. A strange thing on the entrance gate caught his eye.

Sakura looked ahead, a small smile on her lips.

"I want him to be funny and loyal to me."

Her smile widened.

"And I want him to be like the best friend a girl could hope for."

They reached the gate. A small bulb glowed homely-yellow above them, making light dance on their faces. Naruto seriously looked at her then. He noticed the way her cheeks stretched out when she smiled. The soft freckles which formed by her eyes' corners when she laughed. The way her hair grazed her cheeks softly, touching them just enough to beautify them, whilst giving off the elegant aura as well, softening and illuminating her eyes, and enhancing the depth to which one could see into them.

He smiled. This was as good a time as any.

"Sakura-chan, do you believe in Christmas customs?"

Sakura's expression turned into one of surprise.

"Well, I guess..."

Naruto grinned, a small nervous lining present on his lips, "Uh, then, will you look up just once?"

He pointed towards the gate's ceiling.

Sakura raised an eyebrow, and then, shrugged. It wouldn't hurt, anyway.

She looked up... and felt her eyes widen exceptionally. There, by the bulb, baring down upon them...

..._Mistletoe?_

She felt a hand cup her neck, and softly pull her close.

"Merry Christmas, Sakura chan."

She couldn't help but close her eyes herself, and begin to lean in. She was done with it all; the weird sayings, the spreading rumors, the lines of boys Ino sent, she was done. Done with the dreams she'd started to have when her blonde friend had started to date Hinata after the war, and the ever increasing sense of nerves she'd been feeling since the same had broken up with the girl, saying that he just didn't feel it.

She wanted a gift, and this was nothing short of it.

Unbeknownst to her, when their lips were separated by only a few centimeters, the sapphire eyed boy stopped leaning in, while the roseate came in a bit too far, and, not sensing any contact, opened her eyes to find the former grinning mischievously at her.

"Eager?"

A blush enveloped her face.

However, a smile soon followed it.

"Shut up."

She kissed him.

* * *

**WOOHOO! I Finished this, a bit too late. Hehehe. Its 2:15! Hope you guys like this! :D I might just submit this for the Heaven and Earth Winter Contest. :D Please review, tell me what you feel about this! :D**

**I'm seriously sleepy, and can't really work up the strength to proof read this, hope it turned out fine.**

~**THA musIc GuY**

**Don't forget to review peeps! Thankee! :D Peace.**


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